True Romance - Review

In this 1993 film from Tony Scott, Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) falls in love with a prostitute (Patricia Arquette), kills her former pimp, steals a suitcase full of cocaine and travels to L.A in hopes of selling the lot and living in luxury for the rest of his life. As can be expected from a film written by Quentin Tarantino, things are never as simple as they seem, with pursuits, deception and violence never being too far away, True Romance is an action packed crime thriller that does not fail to deliver in terms of excitement.

There is something awfully endearing about watching a film written by such a prolific figure in modern cinema before their 'big break', Tarantino shows his love for a big plot and even bigger characters in this feature that was released only one year after his magnificent Reservoir Dogs hit the festival circuit and blew critics away. The sky is never the limit with Tarantino's scriptwriting, and the Hollywood norm is never going to be followed wholly, with scenarios put in just for the fun of it, characters introduced just to be killed off and the N-word used as frequently as the name of our protagonist, the film delivers a script that could only be written by something with an intense passion for cinema. With many hints at the ideas brewing in Tarantino's head that would be put on film in his later films such as Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, parts of the script seem like Tarantino testing the waters of Hollywood to see the reactions to his graphic imagination. Writing the script was market research for Tarantino, a mere peek into some of the ideas he had for future films that he could take the whole credit for.

There is a disconnection felt when we are watching our protagonist's adventures. Speeding through the US with a case full of cocaine, being pursued by big time gangsters and taking it all in their stride, this film is not one that is easily relatable to. This lack of connection with Alabama and Clarence means that some scenes seem too stretched out or too exaggerated, I tried really hard to understand their motives throughout and gain a sense of perspective but found myself repeatedly lost. The lack of understanding, intentional or not, fits rather beautifully with the thematic side of the film, however, this journey that the characters are on is like a dream for them and why the Hell should they filter their enjoyment for us to feel engaged? When looking at this case, the characters seem to have depth, and their diegesis, although seen from our perspective through a non-understanding eye, is captivating and exciting. 

The film packs so much into the two hour running time, action, adventure, crime, romance and thriller are just some of the genres the film touches upon. With spectacular performances from Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken and Christian Slater, and a 30 second appearance from Samuel L. Jackson, it appears that many Hollywood big shots were more than happy to get on board with this film, and with many of them it was the first of many collaborations with Quentin Tarantino. Tony Scott brings everything together in a compact and enjoyable way, making quite a complex and scattered script into an easy to watch crime thriller, this film is cemented as one of my favourites of the 90s. 

Badass Women in Film

In the obviously male-dominated industry of film, I think it is often important to pay tribute to the strong and brilliant female characters who are featured in some incredible films. In this post I will be shining a light on some of my favourite female characters from films, ones who are often overlooked in regards to being pretty kick-ass by the shadow that many male leading characters cast.

Thelma & Louise
(Thelma & Louise, 1991. dir. Ridley Scott)

At the start of the film, Thelma and Louise, two best friends whose lives are being controlled by their intrusive and selfish partners, decide to leave behind their unhappy relationships and embark on a care free road trip. With just the two of them, the women show just how liberating females can be without men.
At a pit stop to a bar on their road trip, a rape almost occurs, only being stopped by Louise shooting the man dead. This scene has always haunted me, and looking back on it, I interpret it now as the rapist being almost a figure of patriarchy trying to gain its way back into the film. The perpetrator is shot down immediately however, firmly giving the statement that no man is going to control these women, they are strong, they show that they are independent and their gun skills are pretty kick-ass.
The ending of the film is perhaps one of the grandest moments of the pair's labelling as feminist icons in film, with the two choosing to drive straight off a cliff face rather than be caught by the police (a very male dominated profession, also). These women are seriously unstoppable, only stopping when they themselves have ended their lives in a shock-ending that definitely gives the audience something to talk about after the credits have rolled.

The Bride
(Kill Bill Vol 1. & Kill Bill Vol 2.)

If you're not familiar with the general plot outline of the two Kill Bill films, an ex-assassin, known as The Bride, leaves the assassin squad in order to settle down and start a family. That is, however, until her old assassin squad leader, Bill, orders an attack on her wedding rehearsal that leads to the death of everyone in the room.. a part from her. With a need for revenge on the lives of all of the members of the Deadly Vipers Assassination Squad, The Bride sets out to kill them all one by one.
These two films show The Bride constantly outsmarting and gaining the respect of powerful men. This starts in the form of the not-so smart and not-so powerful Buck, and ends in the extremely clever Bill. The Bride does not let her gender prevent her from fighting off the strongest of men and she does it all wearing the iconic yellow leather suit.
A particular favourite moment of mine of The Brides antics is her incredible fight scene with the Crazy 88s, a seemingly endless group of men who The Bride mows down one by one, without taking a moment for a breather. It is truly my belief that Tarantino has created a feminist icon with The Bride, and the character is part of the reason that these films are my favourites of Tarantino's.

There are only three characters from two films listed here, however, instead of me rambling on about even more characters, I thought I would make a list of some more of my favourites, and if you haven't checked out some of the films underneath the names, then I suggest you do.

REVIEW: JACKIE BROWN.

I am obsessed with the films of Quentin Tarantino. He is a genius and without a doubt one of the top living filmmakers in the world, his films are full of depth and his camerawork and screenwriting are always top notch. Like all films, there are flaws to be found when looking closely at his films, however the positives always outweigh the negatives easily and I always find myself engrossed in the characters and world he creates.
Tonight I watched Tarantino's third feature film, Jackie Brown.

It is clear from the start that the film is inspired heavily by '70s crime thrillers. The music, the mise en scene, the cinematography, the everything. The film is heavily stylised, which is enjoyable and different to watch from a film that was produced in the late '90s. Introducing a specific genre and taking inspiration from films that perhaps the Tarantino Generation are not comfortable and familiar with was a risk to take, however the film pulls it off beautifully, capturing and adapting the best bits of '70s cinema for a modern audience.

The film sees one of Tarantino's first female leads, with the amazing Pam Grier starring as the title character, Jackie Brown. A sexy, intelligent middle aged woman in a badass crime thriller is such an anti-typecast character that I cannot believe the film hasn't become a cult-sensation like more of Tarantino's earlier films such as Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs.
Always being one to add in complications and characters who are created simply to be killed off, Tarantino throws the audience into a world of deceit, casual drug use and murder that feels like a whirlwind tour of everything your parents tell you not to do as a child.

The film could be a little shorter, with seemingly unnecessarily long scenes at some moments, but with cinematography that is worth the casual dialogue and monotonous actions that the characters take every so often. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, it is well-rounded, as are all Tarantino films, and the substance matches the style, a factor that I thought was going to be an issue after watching the first half of the film, thankfully however, the second half is much more action packed, tense and dramatic.

WILL KILL BILL VOLUME 3 EVER HAPPEN?

In my opinion, the two Kill Bill films that Quentin Tarantino has made are his true masterpieces. Both Tarantino manner, the acting is amazing and most of all, the cinematography is beautifully inspired by old-school Japanese films. When it was announced that there is a possible Kill Bill: Vol 3, I freaked out. I am always preaching the brilliance of the pair of films to friends, family & anyone that will listen, really, and the chance for Tarantino to create a new addition to the pair over 9 years after the release of the last film in the series, I thought that it had the possibility to be the best of the three.
of them display an absolutely flawless plot executed in an extremely

Regarding an exchange between The Bride and Vernita Green's character in the first of the films, the sequel was set to show the child, grown up and carrying out her revenge on The Bride for the (spoiler alert) murder of her mother. The film has a lot of potential, I have always been interested by the exchange that takes place between the two characters, and think it has potential to be a kick-ass revenge film.

It has been said by Tarantino that he presumes the film won't happen, and as there is always lots and lots of films that a director wants to make, but cannot, it remains a mystery to the public whether or not the film will happen. I think the lack of clarification is interesting in itself, it allows fans of Tarantino's work to go back through the films and look more closely, picking out possible plots for a third film and using their own minds creatively. I certainly have a number of ideas that I think could be cool for a third film, one being "what actually happened to Elle Driver?", clearly a cunning and smart character, shown by her antics in the second film.

I'm going to keep praying that the movie Gods allow this film to happen, and you should too!

OSCAR 2013 RECAP:

Right, I've sat down at my desk and told myself I'm not leaving until I finish my blog post about the Oscars in hopes of actually finishing a post in under 3 hours for once, so here goes. This is just going to be some opinions on the awards (although not many are controversial as I think this year the academy picked nearly perfectly!), and general rambling about the films involved, it could be a long one, though, so grab yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy the post!

I'm assuming if you're reading this, you know the Oscar winners already, if not, a link to them is here. I don't want to spoil anybody's fun if you couldn't watch last night and are planning to catch up.

How could I start off talking about last night's events without mentioning Anne Hathaway. I think everybody secretly knew that she was going to get the Oscar for her destroyingly perfect portrayal of Fantine in Les Miserables, however when the nominations for best supporting actress were being called out, and the clips were playing, I realised how amazing every actress was and the nerves kicked in. I was obviously rooting for Anne and was overjoyed when my worries were put at rest. She accepted her

award as gracefully as ever, with a beautiful speech starting with a heartbreaking 'It came true...', alluding to her constant efforts finally being rewarded, fulfilling a dream she has had since starting her acting career.

Her acceptance speech went on beautifully for several minutes, with her thanking everybody under the moon it seemed. Concluding her speech with a reference to the struggles of her character, Anne Hathaway proved her class and appreciation of getting the chance to beautifully portray the persona of a broken person so truly, and showed that she is aware that although Les Miserables is set in the 19th century French Revolution, people much like Fantine are still struggling with everyday life.

"Here's hoping that some day in the not to distant future, the misfortunes of Fantine will only be found in stories and nevermore in real life"

Perhaps my happiest moment of the ceremony last night was seeing Christoph Waltz be honoured with an award for his hilariously flawless portrayal of Dr. Schultz in Tarantino's Django Unchained.  

As one of my all-time favourite actors, Christoph Waltz was obviously who I was cheering on to win, and as the first winner to be announced, the Oscar's were kick started into an epic night of emotion and pride of the industry and art form that I have dedicated my life to. This was second year of winning this award in a Tarantino film for Christoph Waltz and his first thank you was dedicated sincerely to the genius director himself.

Now, if there is a controversial point that shows my disagreement with the Academy, it is the fact that Quentin Tarantino was not up for the Best Director award. Django was my film of the year. Hands down. As a self-confessed huge Tarantino fan, there may be some unknown bias inside somewhere, but the film had no flaws at all in my eyes. The cinematography, the casting, the EVERYTHING. If there is one director who knows how to get everything right when making a film, it is most definitely Quentin Tarantino, and boy, did he get it right with Django. 

However, I'm open to accept that the Academy had some reason to pick the other (wonderful, don't get me wrong) directors over Tarantino this year, and his best original screenplay award was definitely something I was undoubtedly sure he would receive.   

Now, I'm afraid I'm going to get a little British on you for a moment. Previous to this year's 85th Academy Awards, the James Bond franchise (50 years of films) had only received 7 nominations and 2 awards. I was absolutely thrilled to find out that in one year alone the franchise doubled the amount of awards and picked up two more. Sound editing was a rather uneventful award, aside from the fact that it was a tie pick and there were two winners, and the real excitement was in Adele and Paul Epworth winning the award for best original song. It was not exactly unexpected, with the whole of the film world/music world/general world basically coming to the conclusion as soon as the nominations were announced that she would win it, however, from a British point of view, the pride of seeing her stood up there with her non-proper accent, representing the working class of Britain, was enough to make my night.

I've rambled enough, I feel, and I know I haven't even mentioned the big winners such as Argo & Life of Pi, however the films, directors and actors mentioned here are ones who I have been rooting for, my personal favourites, and the ones I am more than happy for. 

Well, I guess that's another Oscar year over, and by that I mean another year of staying up until 5am and watching the live stream, then having to get up three hours later for a 9am lecture at university.

Fun, fun, fun.